AEW Five Fingers of Death (and Friends) 12/1 - 12/7 Part 3

ROH Final Battle 12/5/25

Lee Moriarty vs Nigel McGuinness - Iron Man Match

In general, it doesn't make sense to argue in good faith against those who argue in bad faith. 

A cottage industry has sprouted where grifters spout takes they barely believe in order to tear things down to get engagement. That provides them followers, clicks, appearances, and maybe, if they're particularly successful, lucrative attention from corporate overlords. 

The thing is that younger people see this, and they see that it comes from someone with a big following and some level of past authority and significance, and they cling to it as at least a possible truth.

So no, I don't think it's worth validating them and their thoughts by spending too much time with it, but spending a little, well, there's not too much harm in that, especially when it doesn't take me too far afield from where I'd be anyway.

The question at hand? Storytelling, specifically the validity of implicit, in-ring storytelling vs something more explicit and driven by out-of-ring angles and promos. Can the text itself stand without being buoyed on a sea of context. 

The case study: Lee Moriary vs Nigel McGuinness from Final Battle 2025. An Ironman match between two pure rules stalwarts. 

On paper and certainly as the grifters would grift, this was a cold match. It was announced about a week before the show. It was set up solely on pride. The title wasn't on the line. It wasn't under pure rules. Moriarty had successfully defended the title against Nigel. Nigel had defeated Lee in the technical spectacle 4-way to score a title shot at Zack Sabre, Jr. at Forbidden Door 2025. They were 1-1 against each other. Lee is the longest running Pure champ. Nigel is the second longest running champ and the one who really put the title on the map. This, therefore, was about pride. That's the story coming in. That's it. One backstage promo. No angles. 

But that's not how wrestling works. There are always implicit characteristics. Lee's used to wrestling pure rules matches and here the rules were relaxed (rope breaks didn't count against you, for instance). Shane Taylor was allowed at ringside. Nigel came in with arguably more to prove. He's the one that made the challenge. Moriarty, on the other hand, had just been taken to the limit against Komander in a Proving Ground match and he'd have to defend against him upcoming. This was a distraction from that in some ways. Nigel had dropped twenty-two pounds for this and while he wasn't in the same sort of ring shape as Lee, he was far more rested up. They were in relatively neutral ground as McGuinness came up in Ohio but it's not far from Moriarty's home in Pittsburgh. 

All of this potentially matters, but at the same time, none of it is a sure thing. They're all elements and details, just a few of many, that could potentially be used by the wrestlers to craft a story. And even though the wrestlers might choose to tap into these, that doesn't mean that the story is compelling. I had a period when I was younger that I valued logic above all else in a match. Were all the parentheses closed? Did everything make sense? Was it all set up and paid off? Was anything extraneous? Now I realize that it's much more of a bare minimum or a starting point, and it's also not the be all and end all. Narratives can be a little messy if the sacrifice of coherency somehow increases emotional connection, if it helps people feel instead of think at a key moment. In most cases, however, structural underpinnings bolster that emotional connection instead of disrupting them, and the absence of such is not due to some stroke of creative brilliance but instead pure laziness. In a world with more nuance and less grifters, it'd be easier to point out such examples. As it is, we have to be careful not to use too wide a brush.

So coming in, a single question, quite often the most primal, most important question in all of pro wrestling: "Who is better?" And various attributes that separate the two wrestlers, and a situation primed for the wrestlers to explore these differences between them. You can see why this is a perfect case study. 

They had thirty minutes (and, of course, eventually an overtime) to ply their craft and make their art, and they went right to it. The first few minutes were a feeling out process, hold flowing into hold, reversals opening up new possibilities. There were risks here. It could feel too much like an exhibition. It could be too formless with nothing driving the action but technique. It could feel too collaborative where it's obvious they were propping one another up. But they walked the line well. Nigel was perhaps more the aggressor but Moriarty had answers, a series of interesting and intricate escapes. They both used rope breaks liberally, establishing to a crowd that had just seen a women's Pure title match that here they were fair game.

Notably, after being tagged by a back elbow on a switch, McGuinness snapped into the ropes to throw his comebacker Les Kellett lariat, but Moriarty simply walked out of reach. That would come into play a couple of minutes later as he went for it again, wanting a quick fall to take an early lead. Moriarty had him scouted and went behind for a roll up. McGuinness reversed into a pin attempt of his own, but Moriarty was a couple of moves ahead and turned it into his signature Border City Stretch. McGuinness, in their previous title match, had spent a debilitating minute in the hold. Here, with less than five minutes gone, he couldn't afford that. Instead, he quickly and strategically tapped so no damage was done.

The fans chose this moment to start supporting the quantitative underdog, chanting for McGuinness, and Moriarty went to the floor to burn some time and play to them accordingly. Back in the ring, McGuinness, now down a fall, ramped up the intensity. Moriarty picked an ankle after a roll, and Nigel went right to the ear to drive him to the ropes. He started opening up on Moriarty's arm, slamming it onto the mat and then working it over to create a vulnerability. Moriarty sold accordingly. Nigel went for the Tower of London in the corner, but Lee was able to escape, but not press an advantage. Instead, Nigel became even more aggressive, escalating things to strikes, first in the ring, and then, after chasing Lee out, on the floor. That aggression cost him dearly, however, as after chasing Moriarty back into the ring, Lee was able to roll him up for a quick three count making the match 2-0. 

Nigel, now in a hole, responded by going in harder on the arm. That made him predictable in some ways but it also gave him an advantage in the moment. For instance, if Lee went for a sunset flip, Nigel was able to block it just by slapping at the hands. Moriarty utilized his superior athleticism and comparable canniness to reverse repeated attempts at moves and use the distance McGuinness occasionally provided in setting up bigger attacks to fire back, but Nigel was able to cut off Moriarty by driving forward and attacking the arm. If Lee missed a move, sometimes the sheer recoil of it caused him to be momentarily stunned and to hold his arm, excellent selling that provided a clear, logical, immersive narrative opportunity for Nigel. 

McGuinness locked in his London Dungeon armhold once, but Moriarty made it to the ropes. After a missed corner charge by Lee (set up through a complex series of reversals), he locked it in again, and this time scored the submission. It was still 2-1 however, and Nigel, increasingly desperate with about ten minutes left, yet smelling blood given what he had just accomplished, immediately went for it again. It was a completely reasonable and compelling character decision from him, yet Lee was able to capitalize upon its predictability, rolling through and locking Nigel into a deep cradle to make the score 3-1.

Now, as the clock continued to tick down, they had built a match through the idea of contesting advantages. Lee had a clear quantitative advantage, up by two falls with time on his side, but Nigel had a clear qualitative advantage, with Lee's arm weakened and damaged. If Nigel's desperation drove him too hard to capitalize, Lee would be able to predict it and counter, however. Nigel did press, working over the arm and chopping Moriarty down, but another attempt at the London Dungeon was reversed. He shifted gears to a triangle choke, but Lee made it to the ropes. 

With about three and a half minutes left, they crashed into each other and Nigel finally hit the Les Kellett clothesline, but only for two. Moriarty escaped the ring. Nigel followed again. This time Shane Taylor got in between them and that distraction allowed Lee to lock in a choke. Nigel barely beat the count but was vulnerable to the Border City Stretch. Maybe because Nigel wasn't softened up enough (given his early tap at the start of the match) or because Lee's arm was damaged, Nigel was able to turn it around into a pin and make the score 3-2. Everything from them crashing into each other to the roll up to the pin was part of a single narrative sequence that also played upon what had come before (the quick tap, the multiple attempts at the clothesline, Nigel successfully chasing him to the floor earlier in the match but getting caught on the way back in). It was elaborate but because it was grounded in both character and what they had already built within the match; it absolutely worked.

Things only got wilder from there. Lee had tried unsuccessfully to wrestle defensively when he was further up in points (including on his back, Inoki style). Now he seemed more at a loss, still up but with momentum having shifted away from him. Nigel didn't let him rest and after going back and forth on waistlock attempts, they crashed into each other once again. Lee recovered first, but instead of letting the clock run out, he advanced and got tied up by Nigel for the equalizing pin. Lee, distracted, went to Taylor for advice, was rolled up  and with Nigel holding the tights, it was suddenly 4-3 with only seconds left. As the ref checked on Lee, Taylor clocked Nigel from the outside and with time running out, Lee scored the pin to equalize things at the buzzer. 

There was a sort of moral equivalency here, Nigel's tight pull and Taylor's interference, but perhaps one was more of a transgression than the other. Regardless, and despite Taylor's vehemence that Lee just take the draw that he got by the skin of his teeth, Moriarty called Nigel back for a sudden death overtime. Here they did a series of quick roll ups and pin attempts we've seen so often, but even with the relatively low stakes, the match that they had built and the intensity they brought to bear made these feel visceral and gripping, competitive instead of collaborative. On a double pin, Lee was able to get his shoulder up at the last second, winning the overtime fall and the match. 

Post-match, in an emotional moment, McGuinness presented his original ROH Pure Title belt to Lee. Meanwhile, Shane Taylor was still upset over with how things had played out and argued with Moriarty. Even though this match had come in relatively cold with little outside story hooks, they had, through the match itself, created one moving forward as there's now possible dissension within Shane Taylor Promotions.

Thirty minute matches can be hard to write about. On the match narrative itself, from bell to bell to bell, I went 1250+ words. Character traits and attributes drove the action here. Things were set up early that were paid off late. There was architectural connective tissue (and let's say the ligaments in Moriarty's arm) that kept the match from falling apart despite the length and the complexity of some of the sequences and the technique therein. 

So what else can you even say? There was a story here. It was a wonderful sports-based, competition-based story between two athletes, two masters, two warriors testing themselves against each other. It was full of human failing and triumphant opportunism. 

Grifters are going to grift and try to get people to underlook a match like this. Maybe it could have been built better and supported more on the way in. I'm not going to dismiss that possibility, but it still stood tall as it was. It was given everything it needed to succeed (time, freedom, a presentation on commentary that took it seriously and treated it as important) as an artistic endeavor and compelling story and it ultimately did succeed because the work itself was so detailed, rich, and strong. I feel for anyone that either can't see this because of ignorance or won't see it because they're only in this to make a buck. 

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AEW Five Fingers of Death 12/1 - 12/7 Part 2

ROH Final Battle 12/5/25

Athena vs Persephone

In so many ways, pro wrestling storytelling is about the creative and strategic demonstration of vulnerability. Both babyfaces and heels find their true strength in knowing when and how to deploy it.

This then was a story of three vulnerabilities.

Coming into the match, Persephone had Athena's number. Maybe Athena is a fallen goddess but Persephone is one at the height of her youthful power. She was able to keep up with her athletically to start, no small feat. Even when Athena got a temporary advantage, Persephone turned it back around. When she went to mind games, switching hands and dancing to mock Persephone (and maybe her superior strength) on the test of strength, Athena got clocked in the face for her trouble. 

The champion allowed the cracks to show, heading to the floor for a time out. She returned to the ring with another left-handed handshake (the first one refused by Persephone). This was a ploy for her can't miss magic forearm, but her younger opponent had her scouted and avoided it. Back on the floor, Athena tried to whip Persephone into the rail only to have it turned around on her. Nothing was working. Everything was failing. The walls were closing in already. 

That left her desperate, full of an emotional sort of vulnerability that she was confident enough to show. Diamante was out to second her, and she saved her boss from getting tossed into the stairs (generally Athena's own tactic). That allowed Athena to launch an ambush. She dove off of the stairs at Persephone knee-first, but Diamante's presence meant she couldn't hit a meteora but instead had to drop backwards into a code-breaker, taking the advantage but also badly harming her back.

She carried that second vulnerability with her for the rest of the match. It defined everything she did, every reaction, every bit of strategy, the possibilities at play. Selling isn't about holding your back after a move. It's not even about holding your back before a move. It shows consequence, yes, but it also defines the state of play for a character. Athena, far better than most, portrayed this pain throughout everything she did. It impacted how she moved across the ring, how she hefted Persephone up for a suplex, how she failed to heft her up for her more advanced signature offense. It made her a half step slow and a half step sloppy. It increased her desperation and doubled her paranoia. It created an underpinning of panic even as she tried to celebrate her advantage (and all but caused Athena's eyes to bug out as Persephone lifted her up out of the Koji Clutch down the stretch). 

And of course, it ultimately lead to Persephone not only being able to come back, but also able to put Athena's title at as much risk as it had ever been.

To defeat Athena, a wrestler has to not just be lucky, as Persephone was here (even if she had created her own luck) but also, as a character, be able to wrestle their very best match.

And that was the third vulnerability, Persephone's relative youth and overexuberance. 

Once she took back over from Athena and started doing damage, she repeatedly took her eyes off the prize. Right after taking over, she made a little pose as if the belt was around her waist. Her first real cover was lackadaisical. After slamming Athena into the announce table brutally, she went out of her way to say it had been for the commentary team and stuck her tongue out to either them or the crowd. 

And most of all, after finally hitting her Razor's Edge finisher, after Athena still managed to barely kick out, she completely lost her cool, pounding on Athena wildly and rushing up to the top rope to try to put her away. Athena followed her up, hit a killer German back into the ring, and then dropped her with the O-Face for a skin-of-her-teeth win.

Wrestling isn't math, of course, but a good match can often be defined by one good vulnerability. This one had three and it was the mix of the three, two character driven and one a situational result from one of the others, and the wrestlers' dedication and courage to show such weaknesses, that made this match sing.

Eddie Kingston vs Josh Woods

MD: Never in the history of pro wrestling has a tune-up match been more necessary.

In fact, I'm not entirely sure that a tune-up match has actually ever been necessary before this. Usually it's just a way to get a little more heat/momentum for a wrestler before a bigger match. That's not even true. Usually it's just a way to fill TV time and allow the announcers to hype the upcoming bigger match. Rarely does it make sense in practice. 

Here it absolutely did.

Look, I love Eddie Kingston. We all love Eddie Kingston here. And yeah, he's been interesting to write about, and I am absolutely looking forward to write about his match with Samoa Joe. While I'm going to be surprised by how it plays out, I've got the hook in my head already (not that Hook). 

But he has been trudging through mud. He came back from injury and through design or simple reality (pretty sure it's design), he's been slugging it out, one step after another, dragging the weight of all that he is behind him. It's going to seem counter-intuitive to some people, but that's compelling. The best match is not necessarily the one that moves the fastest and hits the cleanest. It's not the one with the most stuff. When you come across a match or a story where you actually have to invest time, effort, focus, patience, almost always, the payoff there, so long as there is payoff, can mean even more. Anyone can invest in an Ospreay match, right? It's candy. It's fluff. It's special effects. This is a journey. And it's a risk too. You know Ospreay's going to get you where you're going, even if you're a baby strapped into a car seat and going around the block to make you stop crying. 

You can trudge through the wasteland watching Eddie Kingston and who knows if you have any idea if you're going to actually get there. Maybe, in 2023 you did. We're in 2025 now, almost 2026, and who the hell knows? 

But you know what? I think this match took us one step closer. 

It reminded me of Roderick Strong vs Erick Stevens that I wrote-up recently. 

Much like Stevens in that match, Eddie knew he needed something from Woods. What made this a tune-up is that you could squint and see Woods in the Ops. He's got that same sort of dogged skill. It's exactly what Eddie needed to throw himself up against.

And I think he worked the match like someone who knew he had to pick up speed, dragging all that weight behind.

They shook at the beginning (it's ROH after all) and Eddie got him right in the corner, and he didn't chop. Why not? Because chopping then and there wouldn't help him. It wouldn't give him what he needed. Now, later on, after Woods had wrenched at his arm, had tossed him around a bit, had charged at him from three different corners. When Eddie chopped later on? Well, then it mattered, it showed that he had it in him, that he could slug, that he could fight. It reminded a body that's still waking up from a year+ out of the ring what it's like to fire back. But he needed something to fire back against first. When Eddie hefted him up to top rope and slung both of them off with a superplex? That's not something you see Eddie do all that much, but he needed that impact, he needed to jar his bones and his spirit, to realign his spine so it could be one with the ring. And when he dropped the strap and started tossing Woods around? Well, that just felt right, didn't it? In a way things hadn't felt right for a long time. When he had dropped the strap against Shibata recently, he got a cheapshot for his trouble. This though? This was one step back towards the light, one step towards the promised land. And then, when he shouted Samoa Joe's name before hitting the DDT and picking up the win? Well, you ask me, that shout wasn't for Joe and that shout wasn't for us, but that shout was for Eddie, because he still needs to feel it, because maybe, probably, unfortunately, tune-up match or no, he's not quite there yet.

But here's the thing. All that weight Eddie's dragging? It's emotional weight. And if you let go and invest and have patience, he'll end up dragging you along with it and you'll get where he's going and it may not be where you thought you wanted to be, but it's where you needed to be. And honestly? That's a hell of a thing for pro wrestling to accomplish. Let's see how far he can take us on Wednesday Night. 

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AEW Five Fingers of Death 12/16 - 12/22 Part 2

AEW Collision 12/21/24

Claudio Castagnoli vs Darby Allin

MD: This had a great beginning and a great finishing stretch and both were somewhat invalidated by what immediately happened thereafter. Claudio is a guy who, like Christian, is used to working matches against the same opponent multiple times. While Christian is a genius in that area, Claudio is no slouch. The C2 in general has allowed him to play upon spots and finishes and invert them over time.

In this case, Claudio and Darby played off the start of their last match together, where Claudio kept moving out of the way whenever he got knocked to the floor early, thwarting Darby's attempt to dive on him. This time, he didn't wait for the bell. Instead he leaped right at Claudio, clinging on to him all the way up the ramp and enabling the balcony dive. That was a great start considering what had come before, but I don't think it meant much in the grand scheme of the match. Once the bell rang, Claudio hit a lifter and followed it with a ridiculous Giant Swing. That did give him the advantage but it also gave him a huge round of applause. Remember, this is the guy who betrayed Bryan Danielson. At times, the crowd is going to have to "give it to him" because he is so impressive but doing one of the biggest swings ever in AEW in front of this slightly smarkier crowd was probably a mistake. There's been too many such things out of Claudio as of late and it's not doing any favors for the Deathriders storyline, already struggling as it's cordoned off into one small area of the main event and not creating any overarching effect on the show overall (save for the first few weeks). 

Of course these two are a natural pair for heat and hopespots and comeback and it was all impressive. I liked how Claudio would at times just lift Darby up by the waist and that's something he ought to do more if he can. And then the finishing stretch hit just right with another big spot through a table on the floor, and Claudio going for his recent finishing move, that clothesline after an opponent barely makes it in from the count. Sometimes patterns can get too repetitive and take you out of a match because it's no longer believable but I buy these guys getting into this situation given the physical force that is Claudio Castagnoli. So Darby ducks it and they keep going through levels of escalation, with Darby finally getting hit with it and kicking out, with Claudio going for the Ricola Bomb only for Darby to turn it into a Code Red, for Claudio to get his knees up on the Coffin Drop, and then to hit the Ricola Bomb leading to a kickout not once but twice. With anyone else it might be a bit much but with Darby, at this point so late in the C2 it felt like proper escalation.

It built to a pretty clever finish where Claudio, frustrated by Darby's resilience in the face of his best moves, went for a chair. The ref took it and when distracted, Claudio hit him with knucks. Clever finish, right? 

One little problem.

Red Velvet had turned heel the night before doing it to Leyla Hirsch in an even more clever way since she used a turnbuckle rod and a hidden wrench she had gotten from under the ring. Same finish (which is not a common finish! I've barely ever seen the sort of switcheroo played out here, ever!) two nights in a row in front of the same crowd, one of which being a heel turn. Not to mention that the knucks would be a better gimmick for Velvet anyway as a puncher (I've got a campaign going for her to dust off the Heart Punch; I think it'd be unique and super over). I don't even know what to say. I haven't seen a lot of complaining online so they probably get away with it, but you'd almost have to put Velvet in the Deathriders and say that Claudio had been inspired by her actions or something otherwise to cover it. They lucked out I guess, but it, like the Swing and the opening flourish not meaning anything, definitely put a blemish on an otherwise excellent match. 

ROH Final Battle 12/20/24

Dustin Rhodes/Sammy Guevara vs The Righteous (Double Bullrope Match)

MD: This was a good complete package with a solid build that added something different (and violent) to a pretty well put together PPV overall. I think, especially given the build, I would have wanted a bit more of a straight brawl instead of something so plunder-filled with tables and ladders and what have you, but that's hard to avoid in almost any match of this sort in the era that we live in. We see what Blood and Guts and War Games look like these days. 

That said, my favorite parts of this were when Dutch and Dustin were brawling out on the ramp (even if it devolved quickly into Dutch's Bossman slam) and surprisingly Sammy laying in forearms on Vincent on the floor (which quickly led to Sammy hitting the post and eating an Orange Sunshine). I could have used about thirty percent more of that (or sixty, or ninety, but I get it). Speaking of Sammy taking that, despite the Tornado Tag nature, they did a good job of getting people out of the way so that the big themes could play out, most especially through Dutch going through the barbed wire table of course. And Sammy wiping out as well. 

I thought those key moments hit. The nearfalls with Sammy making a last second save all worked for me. What worked even more was how at one key juncture, it was Vincent, having escaped the Rope, using it to choke out Dustin. You'd expect that moment and the subsequent comeback by Dustin to belong to Dutch, and Dutch was the one Dustin beat in the end, but despite the familial connection being Dutch's, Vincent was the one who was pulling the strings, and in this case, pulling the rope around Dustin's neck. 

At some point, I really would like to see AEW/ROH trust in a crowd to do a more minimalist brawl, especially when there's a solidly built issue like this one, but maybe this wasn't the match for that (I'm not entirely sure Dustin feels like what he has to offer along those lines is enough for a 2024 audience, though it is, 100% because no one can do it like he can). It certainly wasn't the crowd. More on that momentarily. 

Athena vs Billie Starkz

MD: When you look at a match as a thought experiment interesting things can happen. In this case, they were putting together and executing a match with over a year of build, yes, but also with just a few weeks of build, but more importantly, one where most of the crowd and the audience watching at home weren't actually familiar with either. That's fascinating. I had misgivings about the build, which I noted last week, but the reaction online didn't pick up on my misgivings at all; instead people were just frustrated that Billie didn't win on her second chance and that Athena wasn't freed up to go to the main roster. 

It showed a clear lack of understanding of the week to week storytelling that was occurring. Tourists dipping in on ROH for a PPV and the year end PPV at that, and ones with ulterior motives and interests as well. They didn't plan on hanging around ROH so they wanted Athena where they could more easily and regularly see her. They're more familiar with the idea of Billie Starkz than the Billie Starkz who has been on screen in 2024 and more than that, the idea of an idea of someone like Billie Starkz, a young talent beloved because of her indie run who was ready to take a title. 

I won't speak to real life, but on screen, she wasn't. She absolutely wasn't ready to win. I know everyone made fun of Heyman noting how early the Bloodline storyline was in being completed, but here it's valid. Billie hasn't even really seen the light yet. She's still a heel. She's just a bullied, put upon heel who petulantly stomped her foot until she got a title shot. She wanted more attention not Athena. She didn't outright claim that Athena was evil or wrong or had to be stopped. If anything, she was trying to be her own Athena. If their match last year really got her established in MIT, then ultimately this one should start the road for her to leave it and find herself, but I'm not 100% that's the path they're going to take with her. I do think Athena is headed for bigger and better things, at least in the short term. I'd like to see Billie get some different mentor but outside of Emi Sakura (and wouldn't that be interesting?), no one in house really fits the bill. 

I thought the match itself was good. Just to focus on the finishing stretch, the moment where Athena clearly has an advantage and could go for the O-Face but chooses to use the mic instead out of paranoia/a lack of more fiber/Lexy wanting to please her and then almost losing because of that was a perfect character beat. And that moment in the corner after she had eaten Billie's finisher once and ended up back on her shoulders with the turnbuckle pad in hand is an absolutely perfect encapsulation of Athena as a talent. Yes she's agile. Yes she's believable. But it's her emotiveness in the moment! She went from the worry that she was up in the electric chair position to the surprise that she had the turnbuckle pad in her hand to the savvy bit of control that she could hit the poison rana all within a split second and it played out on her face like a method actor. She was living it and it was all organic and not overwrought. No one else in wrestling today can do that. 

But yeah, it must be weirdly aggravating to book a PPV more or less how you should, but having the fans just unprepared for what they're about to see. The 2024 ROH PPVs have a much better build than 2023 ROH PPVs, with the TV really setting things up, even if I don't agree with every decision, but it's almost wasted on the audience that tunes in a couple of times a year relative to the crazy sort of sickos matches they were doing without build previously. Like I said, an interesting thought experiment. This match certainly deserved a better reception online overall.

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AEW Five Fingers of Death 12/11 - 12/17 Part 1

ROH 12/14/23

Eddie Kingston vs. Evil Uno

MD: I can think of two big Uno singles matches in the last year or two, vs Moxley and vs Danielson. I wrote up the Danielson one and I thought while it was appropriate to the burgeoning heel turn and the build in the Page title program, it didn't make use of what makes Uno special. The Mox match has Uno's bloody face plastered into my mind, but I don't remember it too much past that (bloody face and pile drivers. I remember pile drivers); that's a problem with AEW, of course. It's like an interview question where you answer "I care too much" or "I try too hard." There are good matches on a week by week basis and it's very hard for too much to get mythologized. I'm not sure the answer to that question but part of me kind of wishes Evil Uno vs Jon Moxley did stand out more in my mind.

This had more going for it along those lines. It was a chance to showcase Uno close to home. It was on ROH so there were not major constraints when it came to hitting time marks for overall length or commercials. Eddie's in weird spot being in the tournament and the title almost being in limbo but there's a certain comforting structure to these matches. Here, Uno was the clear babyface. They were able to match up well given their similar size and body types, with Eddie basing a bit for Uno. The early babyface advantage disappeared when Eddie took a page out of Joe's book and just walked away from a chop on the outside to the post. That let him tear at the arm a bit to get some heat and build Uno back up for the hand-the-leg-to-the-ref neckbreaker spot, which a Chikara guy like Kingston was going to be selfless enough to take, and with a great facial expression too. Subsequently, Eddie let Uno really stretch in front of the home crowd; he often plays vulnerable but here he was playing vulnerable champ against the hometown hero. But to put Eddie away, you have to do more and more and take risks of your own; Uno took one risk too many and opened him up to the Uraken. Eddie gave him a ton here, but then here on Honor Club and here on the top of the mountain, he has the luxury to do so.

ROH Final Battle 12/15/23

Eddie Kingston vs. Anthony Henry

MD: Another day, another "Mad Ace" Proving Ground match. It's 2023, right? Emotional investment about finishes is a weird thing. Sometimes there's a wrestler you really don't want to see in a prominent spot and you hope that maybe they don't get put over. More often, you get happy when someone you think deserves it goes over. Sometimes it's the match itself, something that draws you in so much that you feel like it can only end a certain way. It's wrestling and we wouldn't watch if we didn't care. Sometimes we can be clinical or cynical but when something brings us to the point of being so emotionally invested that we care about who wins, then it's in some ways even more special than the sort of investment we had when we were kids and didn't know how it all worked. It has to be to break past those those walls.

I guess what I'm trying to say here is that I really want Eddie to somehow win the C2. I am emotionally invested. I'm emotionally invested for what he himself has invested into it, for his story through the tournament, even just to avoid the heartbreak of the guy losing everything because he reached for the skies. But really, as much as anything else, it's because I want to see these ROH proving ground matches and title matches continue. I like this Eddie! He's different than the guy I usually get. I like that guy too but what makes that guy special makes this guy special and unique too. Eddie's big enough to be both.

Here, he came out cautious, professional, poised. Henry got the first shot in and unleashed just about everything he had. He knew just how dangerous his opponent was. He targeted Eddie's neck and strung together a bunch of credible, dynamic offense. Here's the thing with our pal Eddie though. You chip away at him. You get him down to his knees. You open him up. Well, he's just so damn punchable, right? You lose focus because you just want to stop and hit him. Henry sure did. If he stayed on the neck, hit and moved, hit bigger and bigger offense, maybe he'd wear him down enough. Maybe he'd even beat the clock. He had to start throwing strikes though. People say that Eddie's strength is that he can take damage, take and take and take until he can hit you out of nowhere, but he also makes himself a hell of a target. Once Henry started fighting him on his level, it really, truly was just a matter of time. So yes, emotional investment, because I'm not ready for this Eddie to go yet. I feel like we just met him!

Athena vs. Billie Starkz

MD: I'm going to go from emotional to clinical here, sorry. I already gushed about Athena (and Billie) a few weeks ago. Let's do this the old way, a nice tight paragraph talking about structure. This thing was put together so well. Athena went for the magic forearm. Billie ducked and hit her own, taking advantage. She pressed like someone with something to prove (and boy did she ever) right up until she took it too far and got caught on the dive. Athena started dismantling her as they cycled into the heat, bloodying her up and leaning on her. The hopespots escalated, starting with a few gut shots, then fighting on the apron, and then a roll up. All were cut off quickly. She finally kicked up and out of the corner and strung together a move or two, only to get taken out by the facemask, which set up golden, glorious moment of true comeback a minute or two later as she tore it off. From there the match just got bigger and bigger, which huge spots and set pieces and drama. That escalation doesn't resonate quite the same way without the way they built things through the first half though. People are going to remember those big spots and the ref bump and the finishing stretch, but it took the setting of the stage to create the atmosphere for payoffs. Here, they did an amazing job with it.

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